Bulldogs Split Squad to Compete at Two Invitationals

Jared Bell (photo by Sam Rubin '95, Yale Sports Publicity)

Apr 02, 2009

April 2, 2009

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -
This weekend, the Bulldogs will split into two squads to compete at two different invitationals on Friday and Saturday, April 3-4. After taking last weekend off from competition, the Bulldogs will be back in action for their first outdoor competition in the East after returning from spring training in California two weeks ago. Some will compete at the Sam Howell Invitational in Princeton, N. J., while the rest will head farther south to compete at the 44th Colonial Relays in Williamsburg, Va. Both meets will offer strong competition for the Bulldogs and a chance to earn qualifying marks for post-season championship meets.

To the Sam Howell Invite, hosted by Princeton, Yale will send mostly competitors in distance races and field events. The un-scored invitational will feature competitors from 17 teams, including Colgate, Columbia, Dartmouth, Monmouth, Rutgers, Southern Connecticut State, Syracuse and Vermont. The first men's event will be the discus throw, which starts at 5:00 p.m. on Friday. The other events being contested Friday night are the distance track events: the 3,000-meter steeplechase, 1,500-meter run, 5,000-meter run, and 10,000-meter run. Saturday's competition will begin with the men's hammer throw at 11:00 a.m. A complete schedule can be found
here. Results will be posted on GoPrincetonTigers.com and YaleBulldogs.com at the conclusion of the meet.

Last year at Sam Howell, the throwing squad were very successful, as seniors Jeffrey Lachman and Nathan Noll both qualified for the IC4A Championships with good performances in the discus throw, and fellow senior Kevin Hickenbottom qualified for IC4As in the javelin throw. This outdoor season looks to be packed with potential once again for the Yale throws. Lachman had a tremendous outdoor debut two weeks ago in Irvine, Calif., where he won the hammer throw with a personal-best mark, placed third in the shot put with another personal-best mark, and won the discus throw with an NCAA-Regional qualifying-mark of 52.31 meters. Freshman Thaddeus Diamond looks poised to join Hickenbottom in javelin success, as he threw an NCAA-Regional qualifying-mark of 62.10 meters in his collegiate debut javelin throw.

The Colonial Relays, which are hosted by William & Mary, will feature a full schedule of both individual events and a variety of relays. It will be a scored invitational with athletes competing from 25 teams, including Bucknell, George Mason, Georgetown, Iona, Monmouth, Rutgers, Seton Hall, VCU and Virginia Tech. Heat sheets with athletes entered to compete in the meet can be found here. Friday's competition will consist of individual events, while Saturday will showcase multiple relays, including those not usually contested like the 4x200-meter and 4x1,500-meter relays.

Last year at the Colonial Relays, the Bulldogs had impressive performances over a variety of events, including second-place finishes in the middle-distances by junior Chris Labosky (800 meter run) and senior Jared Bell (1,500 meter run), and a fifth-place finish in the 400-meter dash by junior David Soiles. Bell already had an outstanding outdoor debut two weeks ago in Irvine, winning the 1,500-meter run in an NCAA Regional-qualifying time of 3:47.08. The distance medley relay earned Yale's top finish of the meet last year, winning the event by nearly seven seconds. The Bulldogs earned a fourth-place finish in the team competition with 53 points, despite not bringing a full squad to the meet.

The first men's event of the day is the hammer throw, which begins at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, while the first running event will be the 3,000-meter steeplechase at noon. A complete schedule of events, which will be updated with live results throughout the meet, can be found here.